Lily Marin - three short steampunk stories (2 page)

Below her she saw the gang running. So far,
so good, Lily the Masked Woman thought. A splutter from her pack
told her that the flight was almost over and she prepared for the
smack-down. Landings were unpleasant and she never got the timing
right to make her boot extensions break the fall.

She started to drop. Falling was not so bad.
It was the moment of hanging suspended in the air that made her
stomach turn a few times.

"Oh shit," Lily said as a true Masked Woman.
She had already spotted that her landing zone was a building.
Before the stone masses took the view away, she saw that the motley
gang had slowed down and was looking around. Somehow they never
looked up.

Just before the last hiccups and snorts came
from the backpack, Lily threw her weight into the straps, trying to
turn herself in the least damaging position before she hit the
building. She was lucky this time: she slammed into the wall only
eight feet from the ground. The coat took most of the impact and
she slid down the bricks, landing on her feet. "Oooomph....."

The Masked Woman shook her head a few times
to get her senses back in place, then she ran out of the alley that
her short flight had taken her to. She looked left, then right.

There they were. Blood was racing through
Lily's veins now. She had gone through the transformation
completely, all traces of the singer had vanished. She now was the
hunter, the stone cold killer that stepped in where justice feared
to go. She paced towards the group of five, rad-gun in one hand,
whip in the other.

Two of the men carried swords, not an
uncommon sight in these parts and hardly anything to be concerned
with. The others had a small selection of hand weapons. One of
these men aimed at Lily and fired without wasting time and
breath.

The impact of the steel pellet barely stopped
her progress. She'd have a nice bruise of it the next day, she
realised in a fraction of a moment. Then she fired a blast from her
rad-gun and the shooter went down, never to come up again.

One man stared at the figure in the long coat
that came steadily towards them despite the shot from the gun. He
almost dropped his gun for fear as a certain area of his pants
coloured dark. The two sword-carriers had different ideas. As a
trained team they each moved to a side and then charged at
Lily.

She had anticipated that. The rad-gun was
holstered again, and her hand came back with the umbrella. Lily
flicked a small nob on it and the blade of a rapier jumped from the
tip of the folded-up umbrella. She blocked a strike from one of the
attackers and dove under a swoop from the other man, then turned
quickly and lashed out to the second man with her whip in the same
movement. It caught the man's wrist.

Lily yanked. Not with the minimal strength of
the singer. No, she now had command of all her power, the power
that had been unleashed when the experimental transformation-ray of
Doctor Drosselmeyer had gone wrong and the device exploded,
charging Lily with more than a thousand times the level that she
was meant to get.

The man's wrist broke. Lily's ripping was so
powerful and the whip's end so sharp that his hand came off. As he
screamed and blood spouted from his stump, Lily was already on top
of the other sword fighter.

Her handling of the rapier umbrella was so
fast that she was no match for the man. A dozen or more deep cuts
in his chest and abdomen sealed his fate. Lily turned to the two
remaining men, one of which had fallen to his knees and reduced
himself to a snotty heap.

The last one standing was a bear of a man.
Not only was he huge, he also had a rad-gun and a very large
calibre fire arm, and both of those were aimed at the Masked Woman.
Oh shit, she thought. This could get really painful.

"Give up," she said, aiming her umbrella at
the man. "You're alone now, nobody's going to save you."

"Who says I need help, bitch?" the man
growled.

Lily saw his finger twitch and closed her
eyes. The beam of electrons from the rad-gun hit her straight in
the chest and face. The microfibre coat absorbed most of it, but
the unmasked skin on her face stung and burnt. It was over soon,
though. Rad-guns did not keep up such a power drain for long.

Lily forced air into her lungs and opened her
eyes. She saw stars dancing in front of her eyes, something that
hindered seeing. She knew he would shoot the other gun too, but
when? Then the crack of a shot reached her ears - the bullet would
hit any moment - but it didn't.

Another shot was fired and again the burning
sensation of a bullet didn't come.

She blinked a few times to make the stars go
away and saw the bear of a man on one knee, clutching his shoulder,
blood seeping through his fingers. Blood also came from a thigh.
Then she heard the panting behind her.

The men she had mistaken for the vagabond
gang had come up behind her and someone from that group had fired
at the last gang member standing.

With a groan the wounded man lifted his gun,
aiming to hurt someone. Lightning fast, Lily grabbed at her tool
belt and threw. The man fired the gun, but the bullet went
harmlessly up into the air, as the dagger had pierced his forehead
and forced him backwards.

"Dear Lord," she heard one of the men behind
her say. "Madam, are you well?"

Lily turned towards them, ignoring the
feeling of pepper under her skin that the rad-gun had left there.
"I'm fine. Thank you for coming, gentlemen, and my apology for
mistaking you for the gang."

She turned and walked towards the fallen
bear. She yanked her dagger from the man's head which let go of it
with a sucking sound. She wiped it clean on the dead man's clothes
and tucked it away. Then she turned back to the small group.

"Perhaps it is best if you are not here when
the police come to round up these folk," she said. "They will ask
all kinds of inconvenient questions."

"But madam, we have nothing to hide."

"Suit yourself," said Lily. "I do, so I am
leaving." She clicked her heels. The mechanism raised her up again
and quickly, without another word, she walked off at a high
speed.

None of the gentlemen even thought of trying
to stop her.

Back in her small apartment she first took
care of her equipment. The coat was cleaned, the rad-gun and the
backpack were attached to their chargers.

She retracted the rapier, unfolded the
umbrella and put the thing in the umbrella stand next to its
harmless cousins. Her boots were already in the closet, wiped clean
and ready for the next event. She checked the dagger for damage,
but the fine Japanese blade had not suffered from the skull.
Finally she took care of herself.

With a grateful sigh Lily sank into the tub,
letting the hot water clean her skin and thoughts. She took her
time to soak and relax, until the water was getting cold.

Drying herself in front of the mirror, Lily
saw that she had a few massive bruises. Buildings and bullets never
failed to do that. Also the skin on the lower part of her face
looked damaged; the remainder from the blast from the rad-gun.

She sucked in air through her teeth as she
touched it. Painful. Lethal as it would have been for regular
people, she would heal in a few days, as she always did, but it
meant that she was not going to sing the next day.

Her voice would be fine, but she wanted to
avoid questions about her appearance.

Dudley, the neighbour's boy, would be glad to
take an apology note out for her, as usual. He wasn't the brightest
person in town and never asked uncomfortable questions.

Lily looked at the tub. She'd clean that
tomorrow. She was knackered, so she slipped into her nightgown and
went to bed.

That night she dreamt of Dr. Drosselmeyer
again, of how he asked her to assist in this 'harmless experiment'
gone bad, and how that had turned her into the person she was
now...

"Right, everything in the bag, umbrella in
the hall - oh, I will need this."

Lily enjoyed talking to herself as she went
about her place to get her things together. She was about to leave
for some singing. There was a reason she never called it a
'performance'; she did not think her voice good enough for that.
Instead, Lily always went for 'some singing'.

The this, being a hairbrush, disappeared into
the bag. Lily looked around the room and decided she was all set
for the singing. She was already dressed for it, her long coat
would cover up her dress.

The dressing rooms she usually had at her
disposal did not always offer enough space for changing, and this
way she did not have to carry so much either. A definite click
assured her that the lock on her bag worked fine.

Once in the street, Lily focussed on the
songs she was going to sing.

The piano player'd better be better than the
one she had worked with two evenings ago. With that one, Lily was
surprised that he knew what side of the piano he had to fondle,
because that was all he had done. Well, that and almost ruining the
evening.

Today she would sing at the dance hall, not
very far from her house. The weather was wonderful, so initially
she decided to walk. Then she stopped a carriage after all.

Ladies, she reminded herself, do not walk
those distances, and certainly not with heavy bags. Ordinary women
did. As the carriage took her along Lily missed the walking, but
this way she would not be seen as someone who had the physical
stamina of the Masked Woman, her alter ego. She had to avoid any
resemblance, even at the price of a ride.

The carriage came to a halt. The driver
opened the door and helped her out. He was so kind that Lily felt
sorry she could not give him a better tip, but he seemed well
pleased.

"Have a nice day, Miss," he said as he tipped
his hat and climbed back into his seat.

"You too, sir," said Lily. Then she walked
towards the dance hall. She'd been here before. The singer entered,
announced her presence to Jonathan, the manager of the hall, and
located her dressing...

"A closet. Of course."

As she was laying out her belongings on the
desk that had been shoved inside, there was a knock on the door.
Without waiting for a response, a woman entered. She was too blond,
her eyes were blue and her figure was a tad too voluptuous.

"Lily! How nice, you've arrived!"

"Hello, Selma."

Lily and Selma went back a long time. Back to
school, actually. It was often difficult for Lily to keep her life
as the Masked Woman hidden from Selma, as the woman made Lily talk
too easily.

"Jonathan told me you were coming to sing,"
Selma said as she somehow moved into the closet and sat on the
desk. Jonathan was her husband. "I always tell Jonathan that you
should not be singing here. Your voice is so nice, Lily, you should
be in better circles. I know you have it in you."

As Lily tried to do something to her make-up,
Selma brought her up to date on the latest gossip. Selma was better
than any tabloid. "And did you hear about that creep that seems to
drop in from God knows where and then starts killing people without
any reason?"

Lily carefully shook her head as she was
touching up her lipgloss. "Drat," she muttered. She had not been
careful enough. "No, I haven't. When did that happen?"

"Last night. Some people had told the
reporters that a man had fallen from the sky and killed people,
after which he had gone up to the sky again," Selma knew. She
wasn't only better than a tabloid, she knew more than Lily's
newspaper too.

"The problem is that nobody has a decent
description of the person, and the dead people did not look as if
they were murdered. Cause of death was called a heart attack and
the description of the murderer had been an angel." Selma sighed.
"Wouldn't it be magnificent if there was a real angel here?"

"One that murders people? I can do without
that, thank you very much," Lily said.

"You have a great voice, Lily, but you lack a
romantic heart," Selma stated as got up.

"That kept me alive so far," Lily
grinned.

"And alone," said Selma as she opened the
door. "It is down to me to do your dirty work, asusual. I shall
have to find you a decent man, Lily. With that attitude you'll
never find one." With an overdone dramatic gesture Selma left the
closet.

"A decent man," Lily muttered as she
continued finishing her make-up. "An angel. Where does she get all
that from..." Before she could mutter any further, there was
another knock on the door.

"Miss Marin? We're ready for you," a gentle
male voice said.

"How wonderful, sir, but I'm not yet ready
for you," Lily said through the door. "I will be with you in a few
minutes. Where will I find you?"